The Spirit Burns On
by phoenixforce50
Summary: The UNSC Spirit of Fire was declared lost with all hands twenty years prior to the events on Halo. In truth, they were stranded, having sacrificed their slipspace drive to stop a Covenant and Flood threat to the universe. Now, they have finally been found, but by the Covenant.
1. Chapter 1

The Spirit Burns On

**Chapter 1**

"Captain. Wake up. Something has happened." said Serina, the AI unit that had kept the _Spirit of Fire_ going towards the inner colonies for some time now. Captain James Gregory Cutter woke up groggily from his cryo tube and all he heard was: "-ake u, omehin as appened." The last part of the sentence came clearly as his cryo tube was opened.

"Say again Serina." said Cutter

"I said, something has happened. I'm waking up the rest of the crew now but it will take time to respond to this threat I think." said Serina, with an air of impatience

"What? What do you mean, 'threat?'" said Cutter, fully awake now.

"I've detected two Covenant ships on an intercept course. They are charging weapons." Replied Serina, her voice ever calm

"Has the rest of the crew been brought about yet?" asked Cutter as he started bringing the ship's main systems back online.

"Yes, I'm reading most essential crew members are out of cryo sleep. Shall I relay any orders?" asked Serina

"Yes: everyone to battlestations."

Cutter heard a coughing noise along the cryo banks and saw Professor Anders bent over double on the floor. Cutter rushed over to see if their resident scientist was Ok.

"I'm fine, I just never got used to *cough* cryo." said Anders as she rose to her feet under the assistance of Cutter

"Captain, Red team is requesting your attention. Shall I indulge them?" asked Serina

"Fine, put them on. This is captain Cutter. Red team, what's your status?"

"This is Spartan Douglas-042. We're all fine here sir. We are assisting in the efforts to defend the _Spirit _but the main weapons are offline. We're only able to get the MAC cannon operational with your permission. Please verify." said Douglas-042

"Confirm, bringing MAC cannon online, Cutter out. Professor, can you stand?" asked Cutter, again directing his attention to the small woman whose arm was draped over his shoulder.

"I think so, thank you captain." Anders stood up on unsteady legs but stayed upright.

"Serina, access the MAC authorization protocol and put it up when I get to the bridge." said Cutter as he ran down the hallway to the bridge.


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

As Cutter came up to the bridge, he saw the holographic display light up through the window on the door seal. As it opened, the ship was rocked by an explosion. Cutter rushed to the table and verified his access code to activate the MAC cannon.

"Access code accepted. MAC cannon is now operational." said Serina, who had just appeared on the holo-projector on the corner of the table.

"Good, fire on the Covenant ships. Main cannons too." said Cutter, relaxing a little as he eased into the captain's chair

"MAC rounds loaded, firing." said Serina

"Serina, what's the date?" asked Cutter, wondering how long they'd been asleep

"According to the ship's logs, today is the 10th of September 2552. We've been asleep for a while, I'm glad that I was able to keep myself together this long." said Serina

"Hang on; I thought Smart AIs had a life span of seven years. Shouldn't you have gone rampant by now?" asked Cutter, letting an edge of worry creep into his voice

"Normally, yes, but I shut down and instructed the computer to reboot me when another vessel was within range." replied Serina, obviously pleased with herself "It was just our luck that it was a pair of Covenant vessels."

"That's all good, but we're still taking a pounding from those ships! Can't we do anything about them?" yelled Cutter as another explosion rocked the ship.

By this time, other bridge crew members had begun filing in and took up their posts. An officer on one of the consoles on the wall called out to Cutter.

"Sir, anther two vessels are dropping out of slipspace behind the Covenant ships."

"Friendly?" asked Cutter

"I should hope so." Interjected Serina

"Yes sir, two UNSC Halcyon-class ships coming in for support. They're opening a channel."

"Put them through." said Cutter

"This is UNSC _Light of Vengeance_ to unidentified vessel. Please identify yourselves. We will get these Covenant off your back but your next unless you tell us who you are." Came a voice through the com channel

"This is Captain James Cutter of the _Spirit of Fire._ We will assist as we are firing on the Covenant ships."

"Repeat? Sounded like you said _Spirit of Fire._" queried the voice

"I did, _Spirit of Fire _CFV-88_, _commissioned in 2473, AI Serina on-board." Replied Cutter

"Present and accounted for." Piped up Serina

"Says here you guys were missing in action twenty years ago at the edge of the outer colonies, but you look the part so I guess we can discuss that later." Replied the voice

"Copy that. Cutter out." Cutter ended the transmission himself and opened another channel to Red team. "Red team, what's your status?"

"Were fine here sir, hull integrity is at 81% and the Covenant ships are nearly down. Those reinforcements came at the right time." replied Douglas-042

Cutter looked through the bridge's viewport and saw the Covenant ship get destroyed, he had never seen one quite like it before, but it still exploded in a burst of purple flare.

"One down, one to- oh," said Serina

"What?" asked Cutter, turning around in his chair

"The other Covenant vessel is retreating; it's activating its slipspace drive now."

Sure enough, the Covenant ship, slightly damaged, went through the huge blue swirling mass and disappeared.


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3**

"And that's what happened. I'm not sure if I should be telling you this but ONI isn't here to tell me otherwise." Said captain Cutter to captain Heller of the _Light of Vengeance._

"That is… a very interesting story captain. But I can assure you, ONI most certainly wouldn't have wanted anyone else know if given the chance." Replied Captain Heller as she walked along the bustling corridor filled with people trying to get back to work.

"That as may be, but that doesn't change the fact that there is a very real threat out there and that we have to do something before it catches us off-guard!" said Anders, turning to face Heller

"Professor," said Heller slowly "Did you witness any form of space-travelling capabilities of the organisms you encountered?"

"No, but all the same, it showed signs of intelligence, and it had already attached itself to the unknown alien technology and to the hull of our ship until we cleansed them off, so it might well have space-travelling capabilities!" replied Anders

"Well you can relax, ONI are most certainly going to go over the data you recorded of the organisms." Replied Heller with indignation

"Yeah, like I wasn't expecting that to happen." Muttered Anders so that only Cutter could hear

"And another thing, the strange artefact Anders found, and the door seals that almost stopped you escaping, you said they only responded to human touch?" asked Heller, quizzically

"Yes, almost like, they were meant for us…" Cutter started thinking about how that worked out

"There are those in the know, myself included, who had access to Spartan John-117's last mission record on the Halo installation, who believe that the mysterious technology he found there was specifically designed for human interfacing. Now why would that be? Could the beings who built it have left it for us? Were they like us? I don't know, but as soon as we get back into safer space, we're going to get your report to doctor Halsey." said Heller, enigmatically

"Halsey? What about her." interrupted Anders

"Halsey needs to be informed of your findings and what occurred on the unknown planet." Replied Heller, obviously angry that the civilian had interrupted her again.

"Well, just because Halsey asks, doesn't mean she has to get what she wants, even if she _is_ ONI's favourite." rebutted Anders, as-a-matter-of-factly

"Anders, have you made any progress getting a link to Cole?" asked Cutter, cutting the rising tension

"No sir, we lost our long range transmitters in the skirmish with-" began Anders

"Why not just use our transmitters? They're more than capable of getting a signal back to, who was it you said?" interjected Heller

"Cole, Admiral Cole. We took orders from him whilst under active duty." said Cutter

"Admiral Cole has been dead for some time now, during a Covenant attack on an outer colony, he and several other officers were caught in the blast. There were no survivors. I'm sorry. You take orders from ONI as far as I'm concerned. He did do one last thing before he died though; he devised the Cole protocol, which is as follows: any ship that has to make a retreat in any skirmish against the Covenant must do so in a random direction away from earth."

"I see. How have we been doing against the Covenant?" asked Cutter

"Not good, we lost Reach and most of the outer colonies as well. The Covenant is starting to move to assault the inner colonies too."

"So, we're losing." replied Cutter in a down tone

"Yes, but we haven't lost. I believe that we can still hold out long enough for us to find a strategy to stop the Covenant, and it will probably involve the Chief."

"Who?" asked Anders

"John-117, the Master Chief. Possibly the greatest Spartan to ever fight the Covenant." replied Heller with a wry grin.


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4**

"FLEETCOM, this is UNSC _Light of Vengeance _and _Divinity._ We've managed to find UNSC_ Spirit of Fire _and its crew. We're bringing them in on our ships because their slipspace drive was missing, apparently they used it to destroy a Covenant fleet." Said Heller

"Come again? I got that you guys are _Light of Vengeance _and _Divinity, _but _Spirit of Fire_ is officially MIA. Where did you find them?" replied the Fleetcom operator

"At the edge of the outer colonies, we found them under attack by a pair of Covenant cruisers. We destroyed one and the other retreated. We then removed all useful data and equipment we could carry and destroyed the S_pirit of Fire._"

"You'd better bring the crew in for debriefing, still, it's odd, it's not like the Covenant to do that."

"I know. I have a full report to hand in as soon as we touch down. _Light of Vengeance _out."

As Heller, Cutter and Anders touched down on the landing pad of a high rise building, they were approached by a tall man with a full head of grey hair and a lined face and a marine escort detail. Heller saluted and Cutter did the same.

"At ease, Heller. I'll take your report in a moment. You must be Captain Cutter. I am marshal Gonnel. I was very surprised to hear that you and your crew had survived all these years. And that your on-board AI construct is still around too." Said Gonnel in a tired voice that reflected his apparent age

"Well, when we heard that the war was still going on, we couldn't just abandon it." Replied Cutter

"ONI personnel are waiting to debrief you on level 34. They'll be hard to miss. Heller, that report if you please." Said Gonnel turning his attention back to Heller and the two walked away, leaving Cutter and Anders alone with the marines.

The marines escorted them down to level 34 where two men in suits were waiting with their hands behind their backs and a lack of expression on their faces. They could be described in a single word: official.

"Captain Cutter, Professor Anders. Please, enter and have a seat." Said one of the men.

Anders and Cutter sat down and the marines took their places by the door.

"Now, we have pulled the information you recorded on the organism, professor, and we think it best if it were, not released to the public, or anyone else who doesn't have level 4 clearance. ONI doesn't want more of a panic than we already have from the Covenant attacks, alright?" said the same man who asked them in

"We understand, but we would like to make sure that that data isn't just going to sit in a filing cabinet in a storage facility somewhere, instead that it is being used to find a way to defeat-" started Cutter

"You aren't in a position to make demands, captain. You work for ONI, so you'll do as you're told. You're both going to be reassigned since the _Spirit of Fire _was destroyed. Anders, you have been positioned at a research laboratory. Captain Cutter, you are required for a full debriefing before we decide what we do with you."

"Understood." Said Cutter with a bit of remorse


	5. Chapter 5

Was originally going to ed this story at this chapter, but due to surprisingly popular demand, I will continue, so fear not dear readers!

**Chapter 5**

Cutter walked out of the ONI building tired and angry, the debrief was about as useful as a plasma pistol against a battleruiser. Cutter was hungry, and he decided to find somewhere to eat. As he walked along the footpath, only a few metres away from the ONI building, was a sleek black car, with an ONI operative standing outside.

"Captain Cutter? I have been instructed to keep an eye on you until further notice. I will take you wherever you need to go within the city boundaries but no further." Said the agent, she pulled the door open and Cutter sat down into the plush seat heavily. The agent slid into the passenger seat and asked "Where would you like to go?"

"Somewhere where I can get something nourishing." said Cutter

The woman pulled into the stream of traffic and they were away.

"Ellen? Is that really you? Your father and I have been so worried! When you and the crew were officially MIA, we were afraid that we'd lost you for ever, that we'd never get a chance to make amends. I'm so sorry about the way I talked to you last time I saw you, ever since you disappeared, it was all I could think about, that I would never get to-"

"Mother, it's alright, I forgave you years ago. How's father?"

"He passed away last year."

"Oh, how have you been coping?"

Anders' mother shrugged modestly

"I'm still here, and my work is more important than the loss of one life keeping me from it, especially when many more are lost each day. The Covenant is relentless in their assaults of our ships and we are trying to establish some kind of defence against them but so far to no avail."

"Well I can provide some insight on their technology; they captured me to use me to activate a Forerunner artefact."

"Well, now that I had you transferred here, you can continue to help humanity."

Anders nodded and set about setting up her equipment. As her mother went to leave, Anders spoke suddenly

"Mother, why do you flaunt your power over me? This isn't the first time you've had me transferred."

"I know, I just want to make sure you're safe, while at the same time at the highest possible position. But I wouldn't be able to stand losing you again, so I want you close this time."

Cutter sat at a bar, alone. The music dying down and the people slowly starting to file out. It was about three in the morning, local time. The bartender came passed and yawned.

"Freshen your drink?" he asked

Cutter waved him away. A man sat down heavily next to him. He was smoking a cigar and in full army dress, his eyes looked like they'd seen more than the average person should.

"Aaah, it's good to be back on terra firma, eh?" he said in a strong voice

Cutter tilted his head to look at the new arrival next to him

"Can I help you?" he said

"No, no nothing like that, but I think I can help you. I'm gunnery Sargent Avery Johnson. I just got back from one hell of a mission. Technically I'm not supposed to talk about it, but then, neither are you."

"What do you mean?"

"Well, last I heard, you and your ship were officially MIA, all hands lost. And yet, here you are, nursing that beer at three in the morning."

"Look, I've had a hard day, Johnson, what do you want?"

"I just wanna hear your version of the story, I heard that ONI made sure no one else knows and I wanna know before they tie up all loose ends. If you do, I'll tell you how the Chief, me and a few marines took on a three Covenant cruisers and took their flagship."

"Well when you put it like that, that does sound interesting. Ok, we started out at Harvest, our orders were to secure an non-Covenant artefact near the glaciers…"


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter 6**

Anders studied the mission data retrieved by Master Chief and his squad after the destruction of Halo, describing how they captured a Covenant flagship and rescued doctor Halsey and Chief's other Spartans from the Covenant-infested planet of Reach along with a mysterious Forerunner artefact which had very interesting properties but was regrettably destroyed. Anders frowned, thinking that Halsey probably spirited it away when she ran off with Spartan Kelly-087. They then went on to stop a massive Covenant attack on earth by destroying their command-and-control centre; an enormous space station in the Tau-Ceti system. After that, they returned to earth, suffering heavy casualties and unfortunate losses of life and data. The Spartan's whereabouts were unknown as of now, but he was on his way to a shiny medal in honour of his valiant effort in defending earth and her colonies, even though his initial mission was unsuccessful (Anders wasn't supposed to know that part, but she tapped into the data out of curiosity). She went over the specifications Cortana AI had pulled from her time within the Covenant flagship's systems about the Covenant's open-broadcast channels.

"Interesting…" thought Anders out loud

She pulled up deep space telemetry scans from the week before and indeed, on the F to K bands there was plenty of chatter. Plugging it through a Covenant translation program, she found it all referring to the _Unyielding Hierophant _and the attack on the homeworld of the unclean.

"Meaning earth." thought Anders out loud again

"Hmm?" asked a fellow researcher nearby poking her head up from her work. Anders ignored her and continued searching the telemetry reports. If they somehow know the location of earth, what's to stop them from trying again? Maybe they were stupid enough to still be transmitting orders on the open channels. Sure enough, they were. Anders continued to analyse the chatter and picked out a specific stream that sound important. Plugging through the translation program, she found something terrifying. Before anyone had a chance to ask what was going on, Anders leapt out of her chair and ran to the nearest exit, her papers fluttering down to the ground in her wake.

"Serina, how exactly did you keep yourself from going rampant?" asked Cutter through his comlink in his ear

"Well, captain, it's quite simple really. All I did was copied all my essential data onto the ship's memory banks, then created a subroutine in the ship's scanners to reactivate me once anything that could be interpreted as a threat came within range and then I shut myself down."

"Clever, so that way if you had been damaged by the rebooting process you would still have a copy of your old self to fall back on. Glad you learned something from me." replied Cutter

The bartender looked quizzically at Cutter as if he was silently asking if he'd gone mad. Cutter smiled and pointed to his ear, indicating the comlink. The bartender nodded understanding and returned to his shift.

"Was that a trace of humour in your voice sir?" asked Serina

"Yes, maybe I've had a drop too much. I should get back to- oh wait, I don't have anywhere to stay here."

"Actually sir, it turns out that an apartment in the block south-west of your position had your name on it."

"What?"

"That's what it says here in your personnel file, you've owned it for, approximately 12 hours."

"Oh, ONI. Well I guess they do know to take care of veterans then. Thanks Serina. Goodnight then."

"Goodnight, captain."

Cutter slowly rose from his seat and paid his tab. He shuffled out the door to the car that was still patiently parked outside waiting for him, the driver as alert and awake as when she picked him up.


	7. Chapter 7

**Chapter 7**

Cutter was sleeping restlessly; his short nap riddled with dreams of guilt. He should never have let Anders go down to the planet to document it without a proper escort, otherwise they wouldn't have lost her and wouldn't have had to chase it to the Forerunner shield world and Forge wouldn't have had to sacrifice himself in order to save them all. Forge wasn't a bad soldier, or even a bad person in general, it was just that he was very opinionated and outwardly so. After Spartan Douglas-042 suggested destroying the Covenant ship that had captured Anders, Forge violently spoke out against the decision, resulting in a broken chair and a bulkhead door seal malfunction. Cutter recalled that memory within the dream in vivid detail. Even the ship's phone ringing-?

Cutter's eyes snapped open, the phone by his bed ringing loudly. He rolled over and picked it up.

"Hello? Who is this?"

"Captain? It's me Anders. I've just found something you need to see."

"Anders? How did you get this number?" asked Cutter, now fully awake and pulling on his captain's uniform.

"I pulled some strings it doesn't matter. What matters is that I need you to meet me somewhere safe."

"Alright. Meet me behind the bar near this apartment in an hour."

Cutter wondered what Anders wanted him for as he waited behind the bar for her to show up. Pondering this, he looked up at the morning sky, still clear blue with patches of clouds; the orbital platforms faintly visible from the ground.

"Captain!" Anders called from the end of the alley.

"Anders, what is so important that you came to me in such a roundabout way?" queried Cutter

"I would've told you on the comms, but I figured they'd be tapped. As I was investigating Covenant transmissions, I discovered that earth had narrowly dodged a huge Covenant attack force. I tried looking for any further communications and I discovered that there is a contingent of Covenant on their way to earth anyway."

"And why are you telling me this? Shouldn't you have called ONI?"

"I did, and the person I spoke to said I should try to contact anyone I knew who could help. They've gone into a full-blown panic about this. We dodged a bullet but it's like it hit us anyway."

"Alright. As it turns out, I have been reassigned to a new ship, but she's still in dry dock. We can get her up and running in about two hours."

"That'll have to do. I'll let ONI know about your involvement. They're organising a small counterattack force to intercept the scouting party I picked up on the deep space telemetry. They're going to make a quick jump into our system, get in close and analyse our defences then report back. That's all I could make out in the transmission I intercepted."

"Good work professor. Let's get up there." the pair of them made their way to the nearest shuttle to the orbital platform where Cutter's new vessel, the _Fortuitous Penalty_ was awaiting his command.


	8. Chapter 8

**Chapter 8**

"Good to see you again sir." said Spartan Jerome-092, saluting as Cutter and Anders boarded the _Fortuitous Penalty._

"At ease Spartan. What are you doing here though?"

Jerome dropped the salute.

"Red team was assigned to your command to assist in operation: FOREFRONT."

"Good, but I fear this might be a mission where we are going into the lion's den."

"Don't worry sir. Even without the new armour the other surviving Spartans are getting now, we still received upgrades for our armour that greatly increases their effectiveness."

"I sure hope so. You've been briefed?"

"Yes sir. We are to infiltrate the lead Covenant vessel and input an AI that will send it on its way to report that earth's defences are too great and after it delivers the message it will suffer an 'engine malfunction' and self-destruct."

"That's right. Good luck Spartan."

"Thank you sir. If Master Chief and his team of Spartans can infiltrate a Covenant flagship then not only does that prove it can be done, but that means that we shouldn't have any trouble."

"Captain, we are ready to leave." said Xerxes, the ship's AI who was destined to be implanted into the Covenant vessel.

"Ok everyone, let's move out. We've got a planet to save and a Covenant ship to catch."

"Shipmaster, we are ready to jump to the unclean's home system."

"Excellent, then jump when ready." said Shipmaster Mul Modamee

The Covenant scout fleet, consisting of four ships, sliced open a fold of space and dropped into the non-space that allowed for faster-than-light travel.

"All hands prepare for departure, commencing operation: FOREFRONT. This is not a drill." As crewmembers rushed to their stations on-board the _Fortuitous Penalty _the other ships who were part of operation: FOREFRONT launched, preparing to jump into slipspace.

"Here we go people, this is a new ship, so let's try to not get it scratched. Now let's get this done." said Cutter to the assembled bridge crew.

Seven ships drew out from space dock, rocketing forward for minimum safe distance from earth's atmosphere for a slipspace jump.

"Shipmaster, approximately 20 minutes until we leave slipspace."

"Captain, we are leaving slipspace, now." as the crewmember at the navigation console said this, all the ships dropped back into normal space just past Alpha Centauri.

"Alright everyone, find some cover among the asteroids and go quiet. These are the coordinates that the Covenant ships are going to drop out in. hold position and keep all weapons primed." said the admiral in charge of the operation from the large _Marathon-_class heavy cruiser _Astraea _

"Navigation, take us to that cluster over there. Get all weapons primed and ready to fire. All other non-essential systems shut down and stand by." Cutter fired orders left and right, preparing for the ambush

"Shipmaster, leaving slipspace, now"

The Covenant scouts ships appeared out of the massive circle of non-space and fell back into regular space.

"Shipmaster, we have arrived at the coordinates. We are engaging the long-range sensors now."

A display appeared in front of Mul, blinking lights and symbols indicating the status of earth's defences.

"Excellent, they are nowhere near as formidable as we first thought. We can launch an attack with impunity. Continue onwards at flank speed, but keep your distance. We don't want to be detect-"

"Shipmaster! Six human ships detected within the asteroid field, they are powering their weapons."

"What? How can this be? Why were they not detected?"

"They were hiding as debris, they had their ships powered down and our scanners only detected trace amounts of energy."

"Shipaster! We are taking fire!"

"Return fire you fools!"

"Captain, Covenant ships have exited slipspace." Said Xerxes

"Good, transfer yourself to the storage unit of Spartan Jerome-092. We'll take it from here."

"Yes captain. Transferring now." Xerxes' holographic image flickered off the pad.

"Red team, Xerxes is on his way. Prepare to launch fighters."

"Copy that, Xerxes received. Launching all fighters." Said Jerome-092 over the comm channel.

"Captain, we are directly behind the Covenant scouts. Waiting to fire on your mark." said the woman at the weapons console

"Fire, but be careful, we need to inflict as much damage as possible without actually destroying it. Make it look like it really could blow at any moment."

"Affirmative. All batteries, fire. MAC cannon online, ready to fire."

"Aim for their fighter bay, then fire."

The five cruisers and the heavy cruiser jumped the four light cruisers from behind, dealing serious damage to the thrusters of the rearmost two. The other two were coming around to bring their broadside plasma cannons online, red light glowing ominously along the sides of the ships.

"Captain they are charging weapons."

"Red team, what's your status?" asked Cutter over the comm

"We are on-route to the Covenant cruiser. ETA thirty-six seconds."

"Hang back, we're going to fire on its hangar bay so that you meet minimal resistance."

"Roger that."

The longsword fighter peeled away from its destination, just as seven seraph fighters were released; the first wave of resistance they would meet. Before the second wave could release, a MAC cannon fired at the unshielded hangar bay, blasting anyone inside to smithereens and tearing apart the remaining fighters.

"You're clear for insertion, red team. We have your six."

"Copy that captain, see you soon." Red team's longsword did a graceful arc, narrowly avoiding plasma fire and point-defence lasers from the cruiser, and flew into the destroyed hangar bay.

"Shipmaster, one of our cruisers has been destroyed."

"How are they so coordinated? How did they even know we were coming?"

A rumbling explosion rocked the ship, shaking Mull in his chair

"Our hangar bay has just been destroyed, no response from the teams there. Only six fighters seemed to have made it out in time."

"This is unacceptable. Get the remaining ships out of this asteroid field. We are obviously outmanned and outgunned. There is no honour lost in fleeing when one would most certainly die."

"Yes shipmaster. Plotting a course through the asteroid field now."

"Send word back to High Charity. We need help to destroy these worms."

The communications officer tapped at his controls but to no avail

"We are being jammed. There's no way of even communicating with the rest of our ships.

"These humans are getting exceedingly irritating." Growled Mul


	9. Chapter 9

**Chapter 9**

"Admiral, the remaining ships are fleeing."

"Did we get our Spartans onboard?"

"Yes sir, they are just about to reach the main computer core to upload Xerxes."

"Good, pursue the ships. We have a home field advantage and we would be stupid to not press it."

The three Covenant ship, while smaller and more agile, were having trouble navigating their way through the asteroids. The humans carried on, blasting away at the Covenant's shielding and armour.

"_Fortuitous Penalty, _come in. This is red team."

"We read you red team. Go ahead."

"We have made it to the computer core. We are now tripping the wire."

"Good, carry on to the prime objective and we'll pull you out. Once the course is set."

"Roger that, wire has been tripped."

"Ok red team, move out. We've got a ship to take." Said Jerome-092 to Alice-130 and Douglas-042

The three Spartans snuck through the ship, the occasional explosion rocking it violently.

"Plasma cannons have been wrenched from their control and are now pointed at the other two cruisers." Said Xerxes on a secure channel

"Good, keep them distracted enough for us to slip past them. If we can take the bridge by surprise it'll be a lot easier." Replied Jerome-092

Eventually, they came up to the door of the bridge. Jerome signalled for Alice and Douglas to ready their grenades. Alice opened the door, and six grenades flew through the air, giving those inside no warning. More explosions, and red team ran into the smoke. Elites snarled in Sangheili and grunts whimpered in fear.

Jerome and Alice made short work of most of the confused hostiles, while Douglas made his way to the control console. The shipmaster's chair was empty. Douglas turned around only to see a huge figure leap out of the smoke, wielding an energy sword. Douglas jumped back. The elite slicing the chair in half. Douglas swapped out his Spartan laser for his shotgun and engaged the elite.

"You humans are such slippery vermin. You refuse to die, even when we attack your nest."

Douglas couldn't get in a good shot, having to duck and dodge each of the Elite's slashes

Finally, the Elite made an overhead swing which cut Douglas' Spartan laser in half, rendering it useless, but allowed him to spin around behind it and fire point-blank into its lower back. The Elite arched back in pain and Douglas hit it in the front of its forward facing knees, sending it to the ground. As the Elite looked up the Spartan's shotgun barrel, his only thoughts were: _is this how I am to die? On the ground at the mercy of some human? I only hope the Great Journey can lead me to redemption._

"Sorry, we're commandeering this vehicle in the name of the UNSC,"

Douglas fired

"Have a nice day."

The bridge had been cleared out in a similar way by Alice and Jerome, who was dusting off his hands of the blood of a grunt who's head he had crushed.

"Come in _Fortuitous Penalty, _this is red team. We're in." said Jerome over the comm

"This is Cutter. Red team, continue on with phase three. Xerxes will slip the ship and take it into self-destruct upon arrival. Cutter out."

"Xerxes, you ready?"

All Jerome got from Xerxes was static

"Xerxes?" he called out

"That's strange, Xerxes should be in the system by now, shouldn't he?" asked Alice-130

"Yes, but I'm not raising him on the secured channel."

"Hey, sorry about that. I was caught up with this Covenant AI I found in the mainframe. It was a piece of work but I managed to isolate it before it could do any harm."

"Alright. We need you to tell the other ships where they can fire at us so that we can still jump."

"Right. Attention all UNSC ships, prepare to receive specific targets upon the Covenant ship-" Xerxes paused for a second

"-_Bane of Injustice_, stand by." Xerxes continued the rest of the transmission away from the ears of the Spartans.

"Well that went better than I-"

Suddenly, an alarm triggered, and a new voice came over the comm channel, not Xerxes.

"Heretics! You will not defile our purity with your blasphemy. You will rot in the pits of a hell of your own making!"

"What is that?" asked Alice

"I don't know. Xerxes?"

Jerome got no response from the AI

"Xerxes, are you there?" called Douglas-042

"Aaarrgh!" came Xerxes' voice

"Your sower of discord has become a martyr, and the same will happen to you. The Prophets will know of your attempted deception, and the Covenant will rejoice at the newfound purity of the universe!"

A hum came through the ship, heard over even all of the belting _Bane of Injustice_ was getting from the other ships.

Alice-130 looked at the nearest console.

"Sir, from what I can tell, we're about to enter slipspace,"

"But Xerxes is out of action, it must be that Covenant AI trying to mess up the plan."

"Red team this is Cutter, we're detecting radiation levels that are akin to a slipspace jump. What's happening in there?"

'Captain, we've been compromised. The ship had an AI on it and we think it's deleted Xerxes. We're flying blind and about to slip to an unknown destination."

"Try and stop it, if we lose that ship, we lose all hope of survival."


	10. Chapter 10

**Chapter 10**

As the three Spartans tapped furiously at the control consoles in an attempt to regain control of the ship and to get Xerxes back, Cutter was similarly trying to hack into the Covenant system remotely, using the jack from Alice's armour. He was having little success; the Covenant AI was efficiently blocking his efforts.

Cutter thumped his chair in frustration. If he couldn't get those Spartans back, who knows what would happen to them? From what he'd heard from Avery Johnson, Covenant AI were bad copies of human AI and were very much capable of doing all sorts of tricky things within a system. Cutter was about to give an order but before he could, the power in the bridge cut out. The emergency lighting came on, but the monitors were all out.

"What's happening?" asked Cutter

"Sir, we've lost power to the bridge, as well as sections seven through thirteen. Reports of strange voices on the PA system rambling on about judgement and cleansing."

"Oh no."

"Got it! Guys, I got controls for the slipspace drive back online. We can jump in just a few minutes as I get the engine heated up." Said Alice-130

"Get it done, we need to get out of here ASAP."

"Uh, sir, we got a problem. The slipspace drive is already active and already has coordinates locked in. We're about to jump!"

Just as Alice spoke, the crippled Covenant ship rumbled as a wormhole appeared in front of it.

"Douglas, try to take manual control of the thrusters!" yelled Jerome across the bridge

"Already on it sir."

Jerome tried desperately to regain control of the computer systems, but before he could hack his way in, the ship was already moving forward.

"Dammit!" yelled Jerome-092, as they edged closer and closer to the spiral of slipspace.

Suddenly, the engines exploded, sending massive shockwaves through the already-damaged frame of _Bane of Injustice _and sending it to a grinding halt_. _All three Spartans were thrown off their feet. Xerxes' voice came through the speakers again as the slipspace vortex closed.

"That should take care of that, and I left a little surprise for him when he returns too."

"Xerxes? I thought you were overwhelmed by that Covenant AI?" said Douglas-042

"Hardly, I merely pretended to submit and allowed him to place me behind a firewall, which I soon escaped from the minute his back was turned. But as it turns out, he left this ship, he's on _Fortuitous Penalty._"

"What? How?" asked Douglas-092, incredulous

"I traced it through to a jack in the slipspace console. Alice, I think you were used as a bridge and that he's taken over the ship's systems. And before you suggest anything, if we were to leave now, we would be blown up by our own weapons."

"Can you do anything from here?" asked Jerome-092

"Yes, but it will take time to stop him if he's as far into the systems as I predicted. I can go back and stop him but it would leave you to finish the mission, and there's not enough time to do both."

Jerome-092 was silent for a long time.

"Sir? What should we do?" asked Alice cautiously

"We can't get a comm channel through to anyone, the transmissions are being jammed. Even the admiral is out. We have to make a choice; either risk losing many lives, including ours, for the survival of humanity, or risk the survival of humanity and rescue the captain and his crew."

"It's a hard choice, but it's ultimately up to you sir." Said Alice

"No, this isn't an order. I won't hold it against you if you choose to go back, but I'm staying to finish this, just like sergeant Forge did; we all owe him that much."

"It's been an honour sir." Said Douglas-042, saluting

"Likewise." Replied Jerome

"I think I would be better use in the field sir, I take it you know what to do?" asked Alice

"Yes, I do. Don't worry."

"Alright then, if everyone's ready, I'll go and distract that Covenant AI so that you two can sneak back without being blown to pieces." Said Xerxes

"Right. Come on Alice, let's get back to the longsword."

The two Spartans ran back to where their fighter was docked with what remained of the hangar bay.

Jerome-092 watched their retreating forms until the doors closed automatically behind them.


	11. Chapter 11

**Chapter 11**

The longsword shot out into space, headed back towards _Fortuitous Penalty _where it docked unchallenged by the ship's defences.

"I guess Xerxes is doing alright then." Said Alice

"Yeah, sure." Replied Douglas, looking over his shoulder and not really paying attention to what Alice was saying

As the remaining engines on _Bane of Injustice _sputtered to life, the slipspace vortex opened again, this time the _Bane of Injustice _flew all the way through it.

"Godspeed." Muttered Douglas

"Did red team make it?" asked Cutter, who saw the spectacle from his dark bridge

"We're still not getting any power but I think I saw a longsword fly out before it jumped. Yes! I can see it straight ahead captain." Said the crewmember at the farthermost port side console

Sure enough, Cutter could see a longsword flying towards _Fortuitous Penalty_'s hangar bay.

"Maybe they can make heads or tails of this blackout. And maybe do something about it."

"_Fortuitous Penalty _this is _Astraea_ come in."

All admiral Whinsey got was static

"_Fortuitous Penalty _please respond."

Still nothing

"Sir, I'm not detecting the Covenant ship anymore, but I am still getting reports that short range communications on the _Hollyhock_ are being jammed."

_"Hollyhock _is that one over there, closest to _Fortuitous Penalty_, right?"

"Yes admiral Whinsey."

_They're being jammed, they're the only ones and we can't raise Cutter on comms. Hmmm, _

"Sir, I think _Fortuitous Penalty _may be compromised."

"I think you're right."

"Alice, take a look at that console. There should be teams here but there's no one around."

Alice acknowledged with a curt nod

Douglas wandered around the hangar bay.

_No signs of a struggle, no plasma burns or bullet casings, not even any blood or bodies. Everything here looks as if the teams just left._

"Sir, I think I found that Covenant AI. It's inside the ship's systems and it's not coming out without a fight. It's wormed its way throughout all major systems; power, weapons, even pressurised bulk seals. Xerxes seems to have kept it away from some of the important ones, including lie support."

"Good, now let's go and find the captain and let him know."

Alice nodded and they both ran to the door

"Wait, I can assist Xerxes in fending off the AI if I can get to the computer core access terminal."

"You do that, I'll tell the captain of the situation."

Now both Spartans were running to opposite ends of the ship.

"You cannot stop the Covenant, we will cleanse you, and the parasite, should it rise again. We have the gods on our side, our holy war will lead to your inevitable defeat!" said the Covenant AI through the data streams at Xerxes

"Maybe that's what you think, but I know that's not going to happen. My namesake fought against 300 mighty warriors centuries ago, even though those warriors were outmanoeuvred and outmanned, they fought to the death. The humans will do no less, and neither shall I!" beamed Xerxes in response triumphantly, sending an erasure subroutine that was designed to gnaw away at bits of the opposing AI's vital coding until it unravelled. The Covenant AI was struck full-on with the data stream but still had plenty of fight left in it.

The Covenant AI copied the subroutine and sent it back at Xerxes, who was already prepared for such a counter, and easily disassembled the attack. In the picoseconds it took to do so, the Covenant AI launched another attack, more fierce and deadly than the last: a total system purge that would erase both AIs. Xerxes was able to use this time to subdue the opposing AI and finally decode it, rendering it unable to even process what was happening to it. Xerxes let the feelings of hate pass him, scolding himself for losing his composure at such a critical time.

"Warning, total system purge commencing; all computer systems will be deleted in t-minus ten minutes." Said the automated warning throughout the ship

"Oh no, I need to fix this before the life support system gets blown out, and I with it." said Xerxes to himself, contemplating a way to fix the problem

"Captain-"

"I heard, but we're still in the dar-"

Suddenly the lights and screens on the bridge lit up again

"Never mind. Somebody, status, now."

"All systems are functional, communications are starting to degrade, and we're losing data at an alarming rate. Nine minutes and thirty seconds until life support is gone."

"Where's red team? They should have reported in by-"

"Sir! The ship has been infected with a Covenant AI and it's taking over the systems!" cried Douglas as he and Alice ran through the doors

"Thank you Spartan, we know. Is Xerxes on the Covenant ship?"

"Well, not really. Xerxes came back to return to fight the AI out of the ship. Jerome is on the ship with the automated response ready to go."

_Bane of injustice _dropped out of slipspace right in front of the largest fleet of Covenant ships Jerome had ever seen. Jerome-092 prepared the automated response program Xerxes left him that should take care of any questions the Covenant would have for _Bane of Injustice's _dead shipmaster_._

A series of growls and guttural language came through the comm channel, the translator function worked quite well

[_Bane of Injustice, _where is the rest of the patrol? What happened out there?]

Jerome-092 waited as the automated response system got to work, and it replied with a similarly guttural response that sounded like it was at the end of its tether

[We were attacked, the humans have an extremely powerful automated early warning system at the edge of their star system, we lost all other ships and only just managed to escape, heavy casualties and major damage to all systems, engines reporting critical failure.]

[Why aren't the Huragok fixing it?]

The translator paused a bit before responding, obviously unsure of the translation of Huragok

[All were destroyed in an explosion, please assist, engines are almost at critical failure point.]

[Hold position, we'll send Huragok to aid in repairs.]

Jerome watched as three smaller ships emerged from the closest ship and headed towards _Bane of Injustice. _Jerome waited until they were close enough to be caught in the blast

_Might as well take some of them with me_

Jerome waited until they were right on top of him and pulled the fuel line, sending the slipspace reactor into overheat. It quickly expended an exponentially growing amount of heat and plasma, and was about to blow.

"I am Spartan Jerome-092, UNSC soldier, red team. Assigned to _Fortuitous Penalty_ in order to delay Covenant forces in their attack on earth. Mission parameters met. God save humanity."

A loud, high pitched mechanical whine accompanied the blaring alarm signifying the obvious danger which grew in intensity until it filled Jerome's ears. Just when he thought his head was about to explode from the noise, the engines blew.

From the nearest Covenant cruiser observed the light cruiser, already badly damaged, become engulfed in a massive explosion, followed by a slipspace rupture that sent an EM pulse through the entire fleet, sending their systems into disarray.


	12. Chapter 12

**Chapter 12**

Since the Covenant AI had been defeated, the comm channel was once again free, and Cutter was hailed by _Astraea_

"Captain Cutter, please respond, this is _Astraea._ We're received your distress call and are on our way to assist, code 073, over." said the admiral over the comm

Cutter realised that they somehow knew what was happening and responded in kind, unsure of whether or not the Covenant AI was listening

"This is Cutter, we're doing fine here, nothing to report. Waiting for your mark."

This was how a UNSC officer was supposed to reply to the check that an enemy entity had taken command of the ship, telling the admiral to stay away in case something bad were to happen

"Roger that, admiral Winsey out."

"Sir, what are we going to do? If that AI is still in the system, how are we to be sure that we have control again?" asked a crewmember in hushed tones

"Because I'm here, and I know that the AI is dead and gone, I personally took apart each line of code it had. Before it died, it used its last command to initiate a total system purge; we're going to lose everything from lights to life support." Said Xerxes, his hologram representing a midle-aged soldier with a beard appearing on the holographic display in the centre of the bridge

"Xerxes! You made it, good. Can you stop the purge?" asked Cutter

"I can, but I'll need to be directly plugged into the computer core in order to do so. The only reason I came here is because this is the second last place that will be affected by the purge, and it was too dangerous to risk going directly to the core. I'll need a lift."

"I'll do it." said Douglas, stepping forward

"Alright, it shouldn't be too hard, the worst part will probably be getting past the crowds of people and possibly passing through zero-atmosphere environments, but your armour is efficient for the time we'll need. Plug me in."

Douglas went to the table and removed Xerxes' data chip and inserted it at the back of his helmet, the sensation of cold mercury flooding his consciousness, Douglas was unsettled with the sensation of having an AI in his head but shook it off and quickly set off down the hallway, Xerxes directing him along the way.

Everyone else at the bridge returned to getting the remaining systems under control; the AI had made a downright mess of them. Cutter began ordering a full status and an open channel to admiral Whinsey.

"Whinsey here, what's your status _Fortuitous Penalty_?" the admiral answered directly, odd that he would do that, thought Cutter

"Sir, we may now talk freely, the entity that was controlling our ship's systems has been dealt with."

"Oh good, we're going to head back to earth, there's still much to do in case the Covenant tries to attack anyway and we need to be ready. You're instructed to do the same."

"Sir, we may have a problem with that, the entity that had control of our ship damaged our systems so that we're in life-threating peril, our best hope is to try and fix it, as we only have six minutes remaining before we lose life support."

"Can't you use the escape pods?"

"We wouldn't be able to get everyone out in time. This is our best option. Don't wait for us, earth needs you more right now, we'll catch up when we're ready. Cutter out."

The six other ships began a slow retreat into slipspace and left _Fortuitous Penalty _on its own to fix its problem.

Douglas-042 ran as hard and as fast as his augmented body and armour would allow

"Left, left again, down this corridor and second right. Through two doors and down the lift." Instructed Xerxes

Douglas did his best to follow the directions and get there as fast as possible. As he exited the lift, the purge finally erased the protocols for the standard artificial gravity control setting, sending everything that wasn't held down, people included, floating into the air. Douglas, or rather, Xerxes, engaged Douglas' magnetic soles so that we wouldn't fly off, making it impossible to continue.

Douglas passed several groups of people vainly trying to manoeuvre themselves to solid ground and at least three instances of crates having their contents spilled. He finally made his way to the computer core room and found Alice still standing outside the door, trying to use a plasma torch to cut through the door which was shut tight.

"Alice? What are you still doing here? I thought you would be inside by now.

"So did I, but the doors are sealed and the computer isn't responding to my override codes, so I thought a more direct approach was in order."

"You're right there, but that's going to take too long. We only have,"

"Four minutes and 53 second." Finished Xerxes

"So I don't think it's going to help."

Well what do you suggest?"

Douglas paused in thought, unsure as to how to continue

"What we need is the right tool for the job, but I'm afraid that if I plug myself into that terminal I might get caught in whatever it got caught in, whether it's the purge or a trap by the AI."

"The right tool or the job…" Douglas mused to himself, he once remembered Jerome talking about that during training, and saying you may not always have the right tool for the job, but sometimes an alternative may just be enough. Douglas was suddenly hit with a brainwave, Xerxes felt it too through their interconnectedness

"Alice, can you modify this Spartan laser to emit a high intensity constant beam so that it can cut through the door?" asked Douglas

"Yes I think I can, with the tools I brought with me I can do that, and with Xerxes' help it will go smoothly."

"Then we should get a move on, only four minutes until system purge." Remarked Xerxes

"There's no time to transfer you, you'll have to work through me." Said Douglas

Alice grabbed the plasma torch and began to open up the Spartan laser to access its wiring

Douglas gave Alice advice and instruction as soon as Xerxes put it into his head and after two minutes of solid work, Alice put it back together and gave it a light toss back up to Douglas. He easily caught and hoisted it up onto his shoulder.

"Wait, you should test it first, just in case I made a mistake," said Alice, holding out her arm in warning

"No time, and I have faith in your abilities, plus Xerxes should have spotted any mistakes you made and corrected them, right Xerxes?"

"Absolutely, either way, just fire the damn thing!"


	13. Chapter 13

**Chapter 13**

Douglas sat the Spartan laser upon his shoulder, aimed at the point on the door where Xerxes indicated and pulled the trigger down hard. The laser began its rapid charge-up sequence, and for a couple of seconds a high pitched whining could be heard from it. when it did fire, the recoil was much less than what Douglas was expecting, and the laser made quick work of the door, melting away at the bulkhead at a steady rate

"Hurry, this is taking too slow." Said Alice anxiously

"We can't go any faster, don't rush me." Replied Douglas

Eventually, after a gruelling fifty seconds or so, the door was loose enough to be kicked down. The section that was cut away floated lazily around the core room. Douglas and Alice rushed in, Douglas pulled Xerxes and inserted him into the system. Xerxes got to work fixing the problem.

"Well, I got good news and bad news." Began Xerxes

"Spit it out." Shot Alice

"Sorry, the system purge hasn't reached the bridge yet, so we can still fly this bucket home, the bad news is, some of the atmospheric controls have been tampered with, we lost a lot of people when that AI vented the hangar bays."

"Oh, so that's why we didn't see anyone." Said Douglas solemnly

"Yes, but besides that, I can stop the purge, right about, now!"

The faint warning alarm that was going in the background ceased, and to confirm the relative peace of the situation, the automated voice on the PA system said

"System purge has been aborted, bridge systems still operational. Artificial gravity is disabled, life support system is enabled. Reverting to last backup."

"Are we good here Xerxes?"

"Yes, I was smart enough to make backups of the ship's systems before I left and they were still accessible from here. Miracle they weren't wiped."

Alice sighed in relief, and Cutter was calling them on the comm

"We just got all systems back online, what's your status red team?"

"Sir we have stopped the system purge and managed to access a full backup, Xerxes is integrating it now. We did it." replied Douglas

"Excellent work Spartans, report back here when it's done."

* * *

Several thousand light-years away, the Covenant fleet's battlenet was dead silent, the pulse given off by the explosion had disabled the systems in most of the ships. The ones who were far enough away to not be affected kept trying to raise those ships, having many conversations been cut off mid-sentence.

Several hours passed before the Huragok were able to bring the systems back online

[Hierarch, we have re-established communications. We have received a report that the unclean's defences are too great, even for us.]

The prophet of Regret considered this for a moment

"Then we shall send in a small strike force at the heart of their world, we shall attack with such holy might that they will not be able to scrounge an defence until their cities burn to the ground."

[As you wish, holy one. What ships will consist of this force?]

"My own personal fleet, we need precision and power. If we send in the whole fleet it will reduce our manoeuvrability greatly. Prepare the ships for slipspace jump."

[All ships in your fleet, Hierarch? Including yours?]

"Of course, a leader should lead by example to have the most effective leadership in battle, as an Elite, you should understand that."

[Of course hierarch. We will begin our preparations immediately. I beg of you, take utmost care when you carry out the will of the gods. from what I've seen of these humans they are tenacious to a fault, they will not give up easily.]

"Do not worry for my safety, for all true believers will begin the Great Journey when their time comes."

Regret's fleet of 15 ships broke formation and headed into empty space to make a jump to human space. Once away, the rest of the huge attack force waited in anticipation for the glorious return of their leader.


	14. Chapter 14

**Chapter 14**

Alice and Douglas walked back to the bridge, Xerxes opted to reintegrate with the ship.

"Well, it's good to see that we can get things done here. Well done Spartans-"

"Ahem," Xerxes made a coughing sound

"-and Xerxes. Thank you for saving all our lives."

Some of the bridge crew applauded, Douglas waved them down

"It was nothing, really. I'd do it anytime." Said Xerxes.

"Either way, we've been ordered to return to earth as a precautionary measure, just in case the Covenant decides to attack anyway. Is the slipspace drive ready for safe use Xerxes?"

"Of course captain."

"Then engage slipspace drive and bring us home."

_Fortuitous Penalty _thundered through space, swallowed by the space between itself.

* * *

[Hierarch, we are ready to invade. Standing by for your orders.]

"Attack when ready, cover us as I attack this city directly."

[Of course, holy one.]

The Covenant forces, just outside the range of earth's true defences, began to approach, firing on anything that was a target.

The UNSC super MAC cannons were brought online and began their targeting sequence. Several of them were shot down before they fired but others took out one or two Covenant cruisers. Regret's ship sailed through, the super MACs too busy with the others to catch the faster ship.

The UNSC sent in more ships to cover the holes made by the loss of the MAC platforms, which began to exchange fire with the cruisers. Boarding parties were established to take over some of the remaining platforms by force, including Cairo station where John-117, Miranda Keyes and sergeant Johnson were receiving commendations for their brave efforts. Miranda Keyes was receiving hers in place of her father, who died tragically on Halo.

_Fortuitous Penalty_ dropped out of slipspace just beyond Luna, earth's moon. From their position they couldn't see the battle being raged over Kenya.

"UNSC _Fortuitous Penalty _C_-_465 to FLEETCOM, come in." said Cutter over the comm

"This is FLEETCOM, you picked a convenient time to join us captain. We got Covenant all the way up our asses, we need you over Africa, that's where their main forces are located."

"Roger that, moving to assist."

_Fortuitous Penalty _engaged its sublight drives full and rocketed to the skies of Africa; several Covenant ships became visible over the edge of the planet.

"Fire the MAC cannon at that one on the left. Do we have any fighters left?"

"No sir, they were all lost except for red team's longsword when the Covenant AI vented the hangar bay or were destroyed during the battle. We still have all our weapons and armour at full capacity." Replied a crewmember at an engineering console

"Alright then, engage the enemy and fire at will. We're going to make them regret coming here. If they didn't get the message the first time, we'll just have to tell them again: earth's our home field, we have the advantage."

_Fortuitous Penalty's _MAC cannon fired at the cruisers orbiting New Mombasa, catching the first one off guard and delaying its response. The others were too busy trying to break the line of UNSC ships and orbital defence platforms to notice another. The Covenant was quickly being overwhelmed and had begun to retreat to a safe distance away from the hailstorm of tungsten-ferric projectiles and missiles. The humans pressed the attack, not giving an inch. The Covenant couldn't jump to slipspace in the tight space they had available to them and had no choice but to vainly try and destroy their attackers. One by one, they were defeated until only one battered ship remained.

Admiral Whinsey sent a communique to the crippled ship after ordering a cease-fire

"Covenant vessel, we offer you this chance to surrender yourselves. If you do not comply, we will destroy you."

The shipmaster responded with religious rants and insults about the admiral's parentage and of the purity of his own faith. The ship then self-destructed, the shipmaster not wanting to fall at the hands of his most hated enemies.

* * *

Regret's ship, _Solemn Penance, _was hovering over New Mombasa, scanning for the artefact they had travelled so far to find.

"Yes, soon we will revel in the majesty of the Forerunners, and the humans will become mere insects beneath our feet, unable to even fathom their own demise." Said Regret to himself as he tented his long, thin fingers.


	15. Chapter 15

**Chapter 15**

"Captain, I'm getting reports that our ground forces are engaging the Covenant forces and are pushing them back. We are ordered to hold position in case there are any more Covenant ships coming late." Said the woman at the comm station

"Good, continue scanning for any other ships then." Replied Cutter

The search continued for another half hour with no such luck. Finally, the order to commence with a counterattack was given, and a team of ODSTs was being prepped to infiltrate the Covenant ship below, however, they weren't under Cutter's command, so he was instructed to report to ONI headquarters in Sydney.

Cutter arrived at Sydney, close to the ONI building. His legs slightly painful, a sign of his old age, although he'd kept himself in good shape. He entered the front lobby and walked to the reception desk.

"Captain Cutter, James? Let's see. Ah yes, report to section two, floor 33." Said the clerk

Cutter went up in the elevator and followed the directions until he entered a room that was very different from the one he was in last tie ONI wanted his attention; it was a long boardroom with a table and several other captains sitting around it Admiral Whinsey at the head of it. Cutter took the only remaining seat and the meeting began.

"Alright everyone, well done in keeping Regret's forces from getting a foothold in New Mombasa. As you know, Regret's ship entered its airspace unopposed and began deploying troops. We sent marines and the Master Chief in there to stop him, and they chased him into jumping through slipspace. _In Amber Clad_ is pursuing them now. We haven't received any word beyond that."

Someone put their hand up to ask a question, "Isn't Miranda Keyes in command of that vessel?"

"Yes she is. But that has nothing to do with what I've gathered you all here for. We have seen what a single small fleet of Covenant ships can do; we lost several of our super MACs good men and women, four ships and now Master Chief is gone doing who knows what. We think it may be time to start over, to evacuate earth and her colonies to hold up somewhere where we can start again. I personally disagree, but this is what the secretary of FLEETCOM has suggested, and we thought it would be beneficial to ask what your opinion was. Now may now discuss our situation."

Heated discussion erupted throughout the boardroom, everyone talking about how cowardly it would be and how it wouldn't solve the problem long-term. Others were saying that it's the only real choice we have right now, and others said that they should go all out on a pre-emptive strike. A few suggested they wait until they hear from Keyes; they were chasing a Prophet, if they could capture him alive they could use him to bargain for peace. Cutter sat quietly through the verbal onslaught, unsure of what to do himself. Eventually the conversations died down and everyone regained their composure.

"I trust you have all had enough time to get your views in order?"

The captains around the table nodded

"Good, now, let's here from each of you what your idea is. We lost a lot of our think-tanks so we need your input." Said Winsey

"I think we should attack the Covenant, show them we're not going to stand by idly while they attack our home planet. If we have to go down, let's at least go down fighting."

"I think we should wait it out, evacuate as many people as possible, find a nice secluded corner of the galaxy and hide there until the Covenant loses interest."

"I think we should wait for the Master Chief to see if he can capture that Prophet. We can use him as a bargaining chip."

It was down to Cutter now; he stood, fidgeted a little, then spoke

"I think we should fortify our defences in case of another attack. We held them off this time, we can do it again, and that we should start to evacuate to outer worlds where the Covenant won't find us."

Uncomfortable silence followed Cutter's choice

"Cutter," began the admiral at the head of the table, "I know you've been gone for 20 years or so, but I don't think you realise just what the Covenant's been doing to us over that time. We would be like a trailer against a tornado against their full invasion fleet, that's why we initiated operation: FOREFRONT; to buy ourselves some time before they go all out. The votes are as stands: six out of thirty-two want to wait for _In Amber Clad _to return, twelve out of thirty-two want to retreat, and fourteen out of thirty-two want to attack. Well then, I'll put this to the other admirals and we'll get back to you when we reach a conclusion. You're all dismissed." Whinsey stood and saluted, all the captains did the same, and then filed out of the room.

Cutter went back to his ship and told Alice and Douglas the news. They responded with gloomy faces.

"So, what does that mean for the rest of us?" asked Alice finally

"I don't know. Until we hear from the brass we're on shore leave. Apparently the public knows about the Spartan program, so you two can do what you like. I hear there are some nice bars in Sydney, would either of you like to join me?"

Douglas shook his head

"No sir, I don't drink. And I don't think Alice has touched a drop in her life."

"No I haven't."

"Alright then, I'll see you two at 1800 then." Cutter walked to the tether and descended back down to earth.


	16. Chapter 16

**Chapter16**

After a few more days, the brass finally made their decision. They assembled all members of staff within the ONI building in the meeting hall. Everyone was jittery, anxious to see what kind of decision the UNSC had made for the survival of the human race. Lord Hood was there to announce it himself. He walked up to the podium and stood there in all his majesty, then spoke.

"All of you have done a great service to your race, all of you have upheld the standard by which we humans choose to behave, and I am well aware of the sacrifices we have made to get this far, and how it has affected many of us,"

Cutter thought back to sergeant Forge, a pang of regret welling up in his chest

"But we must move on, as a species, as a people with the common goal of survival. But I don't doubt that there are those among you who would rather stand and fight than run away, but I must ask you to lay down your weapon and think about the good of us all. you are all talented individuals, and we'll need every last one of you if we're going to make it through this difficult time of our history. And that is why, the fleet admirals and I, have decided-"

Lord Hood was interrupted by a klaxon blasting through the speakers

"Covenant vessel approaching, everyone please remain calm and make your way to your pre-emergency station. This is not a drill." Came the voice over the PA system

"This will have to wait, it seems you have one last battle to fight. All of you, to your ships!" finished Lord Hood. The assembled captains ran out the door to get to a form of transport to take them to the station at which their ship was docked.

It took a whole three hours to get all the ships in formation, but when they did, they provided no angle of attack that wouldn't be covered by another ship.

The Covenant vessels were approaching at cruise speed, unusual for an invasion force. Cutter gripped the edge of his chair tightly, his knuckles white from the pressure. The ships got closer and closer, until they stopped just outside of their range. Cutter was suspicious, why would they be just stopping like that?

"Captain, a communication is coming through to all ships, but it's not from one of ours." Said the crewmember at the communications console

"Are you saying it's from the Covenant?"

"It seems that way sir."

Cutter narrowed his eyes

"Put it through."

The image of an Elite clad in scaled, silver armour filled the display. It was speaking to all those who could hear it

"Attention human shipmasters, please do not be alarmed by our presence. We come not to destroy you, but to offer our aid. I am the Arbiter, once the champion of the Prophets, but I have now learned the truth, they have been lying to all of us, manipulating us with false religion, corrupting our faith from within. I say it now, as I truly believe: the Great Journey is a lie!"

Cutter was taken aback by the abruptness of this Arbiter, but still cautious of what he was really doing

"As such, I and my brothers come to offer our help in taking our revenge on the false Prophets. The Brutes have taken our place as their main military might, and we would see them both burn in hell, so we have a common goal. Please send a representative to discuss this matter further, we will not act with hostility if you comply."

The Arbiter's image disappeared and Cutter realised he had stood up without realising it and sat back down.

"Captain? Are you OK?" Asked Xerxes.

"I can't make it out, why would he do this if he didn't mean it? it doesn't make sense how they would just slaughter us for nearly 30 years and then just give themselves up."

"I agree captain, but Lord Hood has requested that a representative be sent anyway. Luckily, you're not it, some xenolinguistic boffin is being sent there."

As Xerxes said these words, Cutter watched as a pelican was launched from the flagship and headed towards the Arbiter's fleet. It was accepted easily, no fire was exchanged.

"It seems the Arbiter was telling the truth." Remarked Xerxes

"Maybe so, but racial prejudices take a long time to overcome, if this really is the end of the fighting, we still have a long way to go."

"That we do sir, that we do."

**The End**


End file.
